Walk-behind mower with wide angle illumination

ABSTRACT

A walk-behind mower has a mower deck, a plurality of wheels, a head, and a plurality of light sources. The wheels are rotatably coupled to the mower deck. The wheels move the walk-behind mower over a support surface in a forward direction and a rearward direction. The head is coupled to the mower deck. The head can store at least one battery pack. The light sources are coupled to at least one of the mower deck and the head. The light sources project light through a continuous illumination angle about the walk-behind mower. The illumination angle extends along an arc from the forward direction toward the rearward direction and is at least 90 degrees.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This filing is a continuation application of U.S. Non-Prov. applicationSer. No. 17/466,078, filed Sep. 3, 2021, which claims the benefit ofU.S. Prov. App. No. 63/074,554, filed Sep. 4, 2020, each of which isincorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of mowers and moreparticularly to a battery-powered walk-behind mower with wide-angleillumination.

BACKGROUND

Maintaining a lawn is a responsibility shared by many homeowners,renters, landscapers, and others. Nevertheless, because of the commondemands of life, many people struggle to find enough time to properlymaintain a lawn, especially during daylight hours. Many walk-behindlawnmowers from the past are inadequately illuminated, resulting inunmaintained lawns that fall short of their natural potential becauselawnmower operators are unable or unwilling to mow at night or duringother low-light conditions. Past efforts at illuminating walk-behindmowers have failed to illuminate the area around the walk-behindlawnmower at a sufficiently wide angle, limiting the ability of thelawnmower operator to see the grass that has already been mowed and thegrass yet to be mowed.

Accordingly, there is a need for improved techniques for illuminatingthe area surrounding walk-behind lawnmowers. A benefit of suchillumination is that lawnmower operators will be able to see the grasssurrounding the mower. This will enable efficient mowing by minimizingthe leaving of unmowed strips of grass, as well as by minimizing thewidth of unnecessary overlaps between passes of the lawnmower.Therefore, the presently disclosed embodiments of a wide-angleillumination system save the lawnmower operator both time and money bysaving fuel or power (for electric lawnmowers). A well-illuminatedlawnmower is also safer to operate than a poorly illuminated lawnmower.

In addition, other desirable features and characteristics of the presentdisclosure will become apparent from the subsequent detailed descriptionand embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures andthe foregoing technical field and background.

The Background section of this document is provided to place embodimentsof the present disclosure in technological and operational context andto assist those of skill in the art in understanding their scope andutility. Unless explicitly identified as such, no statement herein isadmitted to be prior art merely by its inclusion in the Backgroundsection.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of the disclosure in orderto provide a basic understanding to those of ordinary skill in the art.This summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure and is notintended to identify key/critical elements of embodiments of thedisclosure or to delineate the scope of the disclosure. The sole purposeof this summary is to present some concepts disclosed herein in asimplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that ispresented later.

Briefly described, one aspect of the disclosure is a walk-behind mowerwith a mower deck, a plurality of wheels, a head, and a plurality oflight sources. The wheels are rotatably coupled to the mower deck. Thewheels move the walk-behind mower over a support surface in a forwarddirection and a rearward direction. The head is coupled to the mowerdeck. The head can store at least one battery pack. The light sourcesare coupled to at least one of the mower deck and the head. The lightsources project light through a continuous illumination angle about thewalk-behind mower. The illumination angle extends along an arc from theforward direction toward the rearward direction and is at least 90degrees.

Another aspect of the disclosure is a walk-behind mower with a mowerdeck, a plurality of wheels, a handle, and a plurality of light sources.The wheels are rotatably coupled to the mower deck. The wheels include apair of rear wheels that rotate about a rear axis. The handle is locatedrearward of the rear axis. The light sources are located forward of therear axis. Each respective wheel has a corresponding light source nearerto the respective wheel than to any other wheel on the walk-behindmower.

Another aspect of the disclosure is a walk-behind mower with a mowerdeck, a plurality of wheels, and a plurality of light sources. The mowerdeck has at least one sidewall. The wheels are rotatably coupled to themower deck. The light sources are coupled to the mower deck. At leastone light source is coupled to at least one sidewall of the mower deck.

It is to be understood that the foregoing general description and thefollowing detailed description of the embodiments or arrangements areexemplary and explanatory and are intended only to provide furtherexplanation of the embodiments as claimed. Other aspects of theinvention will become apparent by consideration of the detaileddescription and accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features and aspects of the disclosure will become apparent byconsideration of the following detailed description and accompanyingdrawings. However, this disclosure should not be construed as limited tothe embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are providedso that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fullyconvey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. It willbe readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the presentdisclosure may be practiced without limitation to any specific detailsset forth herein. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a walk-behind mower, according toembodiments disclosed herein.

FIG. 2 is a front elevation view of the walk-behind mower of FIG. 1 .

FIG. 3 is a detailed right-side elevation view of the walk-behind mowerof FIG. 1 .

FIG. 4 is a detailed top plan view of the walk-behind mower of FIG. 1 .

FIG. 5 is a detailed right-side elevation view of a walk-behind mower,according to embodiments disclosed herein.

FIG. 6 is a detailed perspective view of a walk-behind mower, accordingto embodiments disclosed herein.

FIG. 7 is a detailed perspective view of a walk-behind mower, accordingto embodiments disclosed herein.

FIG. 8 is a detailed top plan view of the walk-behind mower of FIG. 7 .

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a walk-behind mower, according toembodiments disclosed herein.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a walk-behind mower, according toembodiments disclosed herein.

FIG. 11 is a front elevation view of the walk-behind mower of FIG. 10 .

FIG. 12 is a detailed right-side elevation view of the walk-behind mowerof FIG. 10 .

FIG. 13 is a detailed top plan view of the walk-behind mower of FIG. 10.

FIG. 14 is partially-exploded detailed perspective view of thewalk-behind mower of FIG. 10 .

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of the walk-behind mower of FIG. 10 alongwith other devices that may also be powered by one or more of the samebatteries that power the walk-behind mower of FIG. 10 .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before any embodiments of the disclosure are explained in detail, it isto be understood that the disclosure is not limited in its applicationto the details of construction and the arrangement of components setforth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. Thedisclosure is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or ofbeing carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that thephraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose ofdescription and should not be regarded as limiting.

With reference to FIG. 1 , a first embodiment of a walk-behind mower 100is shown. The walk-behind mower 100 includes a mower deck 102, a head104, a plurality of wheels 106, 108, a plurality of light sources 110,112, a control bar assembly 114, and a removable collection bag 116.

The mower deck 102 supports one or more rotary cutting blades (notshown) that are rotatably coupled to an underside of the deck. The mowerdeck 102 also carries an electric motor (not shown) that drives the oneor more rotary cutting blades. In the illustrated embodiment, thewalk-behind mower 100 may be a self-propelled mower and the electricmotor (or one or more additional electric motors) may power the wheels106, 108. The mower deck 102 also acts as a frame in the illustratedembodiment.

The head 104 is coupled to the mower deck 102 and is disposed on anupper surface of the mower deck 102. The head 104 is configured to atleast partially surround the motor. The head 104 may be furtherconfigured to carry one or more battery packs (such as the battery packs607 of FIG. 14 ) that provides electricity to operate various componentsand associated electronic circuits of the walk-behind mower 100,including the rotary cutting blades.

The mower deck 102 is supported on the ground or support surface 128 bythe plurality of wheels 106, 108. The plurality of wheels 106, 108 arerotatably coupled to the mower deck 102 for rolling on the ground. Inthe illustrated embodiment, the walk-behind mower 100 includes two frontwheels 106 and two rear wheels 108. The front wheels 106 rotate about afront rotational axis 118 positioned proximate the front end of themower deck 102. The rear wheels 108 rotate about a rear rotational axis120 positioned proximate the rear end of the mower deck 102. The wheels106, 108 allow the walk-behind mower 100 to move in a forward direction122 when the user pushes against the control bar assembly 114 and tomove in an opposite rearward direction 124 when the user pulls on thecontrol bar assembly 114 or if the mower is self-propelled in eitherdirection. As used herein, the terms “front” and “forward” are in adirection parallel to the direction from the rear wheels 108 to thefront wheels 106, while the terms “rear” and “rearward” are in adirection parallel to the direction from the front wheels 106 to therear wheels 108. The terms “right” and “left” are from the perspectiveof an operator standing behind the mower and facing in a forwarddirection.

The control bar assembly 114 is attached at the rear end of the mowerdeck 102 and extends rearwardly and upwardly therefrom. The control barassembly 114 is held by a user as a handle and includes controls forcontrolling operation of the walk-behind mower 100, including, forexample, a blade start button to engage the rotary cutting blades; aheadlight button to operate light sources 110, 112 (described below); anoperator presence bail to start and stop the mower; and one or morelevers, triggers or paddles to cause the mower to move forward atdifferent speeds.

The walk-behind mower 100 also includes a plurality of light sources110, 112. In the illustrated embodiment, the walk-behind mower 100includes a pair of front light sources 110 coupled to the head 104 and apair of rear light sources 112 coupled to the mower deck 102. The lightsources 110, 112 can be any appropriate light source, but theillustrated embodiment utilizes light-emitting diodes (LEDs). As shownbest in FIGS. 3 and 4 , the front light sources 110 are positionednearer to the front rotational axis 118 than to the rear rotational axis120 and the rear light sources 112 are positioned nearer to the rearrotational axis 120 than to the front rotational axis 118. In theillustrated embodiment, the front light sources 110 are positionedrearward from the front rotational axis 118 and the rear light sources112 are positioned forward of the rear rotational axis 120. In someembodiments, all of the light sources 110, 112 are positioned forward ofthe rear rotational axis 120. The light sources 110, 112 may be disposedsuch that each respective wheel 106, 108 of the plurality of wheels hasa corresponding light source 110, 112 nearer to the respective wheel106, 108 than to any other wheel of the plurality of wheels.

In some embodiments, the light sources 110, 112 may be coupled to themower deck 102 or to the head 104. Further, one or more of the lightsources 110, 112 may be configured to be incorporated into the mowerdeck 102 or the head 104. The light sources 110, 112 could be located atvarious places around the mower deck 102 or the head 104.

As shown in FIG. 3 , the mower deck 102 could be configured to have atleast one sidewall 103 having a curvature 105. As illustrated in FIG. 4, in some embodiments, the mower deck could be configured to have a leftsidewall 103 a and a right sidewall 103 b, each having respectivecurvatures 105 a and 105 b. At least one light source 110, 112 could becoupled to the curvature 105, and in such a configuration, the at leastone light source 110, 112 could project light 126 in a primary directiontangential to the curvature 105 of the sidewall. In some embodiments,the light sources 110, 112 may be connected by a common housing, but inother embodiments, the light sources 110, 112 may be contained inseparate corresponding housings 113.

With continued reference to FIG. 3 , the plurality of light sources 110,112 are configured to project light 126 onto the support surface 128.The support surface 128 may be, for example, a lawn to be mowed. Asshown in FIG. 4 , the plurality of light sources 110, 112 illuminate acontinuous portion of the support surface 128.

In the illustrated embodiment, the plurality of light sources 110, 112illuminate a right-side continuous portion of the support surface 128relative to the walk-behind mower 100 through a right-side illuminationangle 130 about the walk-behind mower. More specifically, the right-sideillumination angle 130 extends about the mower deck 102. The right-sideillumination angle 130 is measured from the forward direction 122 towardthe rearward direction 124. In the illustrated embodiment, the angle 130is also measured about a vertical blade rotational axis 132 of a cuttingblade (not shown), which is roughly aligned with the center of the head104. Various embodiments of the walk-behind mower 100, depending on theshape of the light sources 110, 112, the angle of the light sources 110,112, and other design factors, are capable of different right-sideillumination angles 130. In one embodiment, the right-side illuminationangle 130 a is at least 90 degrees. In another embodiment, theright-side illumination angle 130 b is at least 135 degrees. In yetanother embodiment, the right-side illumination angle 130 c is 180degrees.

The illustrated embodiment further includes the plurality of lightsources 110, 112 illuminating a left-side continuous portion of thesupport surface 128 relative to the walk-behind mower 100 through aleft-side illumination angle 134 about the walk-behind mower. In theillustrated embodiment, the left-side illumination angle 134 is alsomeasured from the forward direction 122 toward the rearward direction124 and about the blade rotational axis 132. With a common axis aboutwhich the right-side illumination angle 130 and the left-sideillumination angle 134 are measured, the two angles 130, 134 arecontinuous with each other to combine as a single continuous angle. Ifeach of the right-side illumination angle 130 a and the left-sideillumination angle 134 a is at least 90 degrees, then the singlecontinuous angle is at least 180 degrees. If each of the right-sideillumination angle 130 b and the left-side illumination angle 134 b isat least 135 degrees, then the single continuous angle is at least 270degrees. If each of the right-side illumination angle 130 c and theleft-side illumination angle 134 c is 180 degrees, then the singlecontinuous angle is 360 degrees.

In other embodiments, however, the right-side illumination angle 130 andthe left-side illumination angle 134 may not have a common axis and,therefore, may not cooperate to form a single continuous angle. In suchembodiments, there may be a dark area immediately in front of thewalk-behind mower 100. Further, it is noted herein that the right-sideillumination angle 130 and the left-side illumination angle 134 need notbe identical angular values.

FIG. 5 illustrates another embodiment of a walk-behind mower 200. Thisembodiment of the walk-behind mower 200 is similar in many ways to thewalk-behind mower 100 of FIGS. 1-4 and, as such, will be illustratedwith like reference numbers increased by a value of 100. For the sake ofbrevity, only the differences between the walk-behind mower 200 of FIG.5 and the walk-behind mower 100 of FIGS. 1-4 will be discussed herein.The walk-behind mower 200 of FIG. 5 differs in structure only in thatthe head 204 is disposed farther rearward on the mower deck 202. In thisembodiment, the cutting blade may be driven indirectly by the motor viaa transmission, belt, or other linkage.

FIG. 6 illustrates still another embodiment of a walk-behind mower 300.This embodiment of the walk-behind mower 300 is similar in many ways tothe walk-behind mower 100 of FIGS. 1-4 and, as such, will be illustratedwith like reference numbers increased by a value of 200. For the sake ofbrevity, only the differences between the walk-behind mower 300 of FIG.6 and the walk-behind mower 100 of FIGS. 1-4 will be discussed herein.The walk-behind mower 300 of FIG. 6 differs in structure only in thatthe head 304 includes a different shape and has different front lightsources 310. In this illustrated embodiment, the front light sources 310share a common lens, such that the plurality of LEDs behind the commonlens should be considered the plurality of front light sources 310.

FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate yet another embodiment of a walk-behind mower400. This embodiment of the walk-behind mower 400 is similar in manyways to the walk-behind mower 100 of FIGS. 1-4 and, as such, will beillustrated with like reference numbers increased by a value of 300. Forthe sake of brevity, only the differences between the walk-behind mower400 of FIGS. 7 and 8 and the walk-behind mower 100 of FIGS. 1-4 will bediscussed herein. The walk-behind mower 400 of FIGS. 7 and 8 has a head404 that is disposed farther rearward on the mower deck 402. In thisembodiment, the cutting blade may be driven indirectly by the motor viaa transmission, belt, or other linkage. The walk-behind mower 400 ofFIGS. 7 and 8 also includes the front light sources 410 coupled to themower deck 402 instead of the head 404. Further, in this embodiment, thefront light sources 410 are positioned forward of the front rotationalaxis 418.

Still other embodiments may provide one or more lights on otherstructures of the walk-behind mower, such as the control bar assembly.Such embodiments may be capable of more fully illuminating behind, forinstance, the removable collection bag. In such embodiments, a light 500(FIG. 9 ) in the upper portion of the control bar assembly may pointdownward toward the support surface behind the mower and/or a rearportion of the mower in order to provide a user better visibility duringthe installation or removal of attachments (such as a rear-sidedischarge structure, a removable collection bag, a mulching plug, or thelike) and to monitor the condition of the attachments during use of themower.

FIG. 10 illustrates yet another embodiment of a walk-behind mower 600.This embodiment of the walk-behind mower 600 is similar in many ways tothe walk-behind mower 400 of FIG. 7 and, as such, will be illustratedwith like reference numbers increased by a value of 200. For the sake ofbrevity, only some of the differences between the walk-behind mower 600of FIG. 10 and the walk-behind mower 400 of FIG. 7 will be discussedherein.

While not illustrated in the prior embodiments, the walk-behind mower600, as well as the prior embodiments, may be powered by a battery pack607 as shown in FIG. 14 . The battery pack 607 may also be used to powerother power tools, such as those shown in FIG. 15 . These power toolsmay include, for instance, a blower 636, a hedge trimmer 638, a stringtrimmer 640, a pruning chainsaw 644, and a chainsaw 646. The batterypack 607 may be a rechargeable battery pack that is rechargeable by abattery charger 642, for instance, and/or may be removably received bythe head 104 to facilitate charging in a remote charging station orreplacing the battery pack 607. Stated another way, the head 104 maydefine a battery recess (such as the battery recess 609 of FIG. 14 )configured to removably store at least one rechargeable battery pack. Asshown in FIGS. 14 and 15 , the battery pack 607, in some embodiments, isa typical portable power tool battery pack that is made to be usedinterchangeably with various power tools including, but not limited to,drills, saws 646, 644; blowers 636, mowers 600, hedge trimmers 638,string trimmers 640, lights, and the like.

Still other non-illustrated embodiments are contemplated herein. Forinstance, a head and/or mower deck with a ring of spaced apart lightsources could provide illumination of the support surface throughout theangles described above. Other embodiments may include a singlecontinuous ring-shaped lens or light strip that appears as a halo havingmultiple light sources in the form of LEDs behind the single lens orcontinuous strip.

All of the light sources may be turned on or off with controls locatedon, for instance, the control bar assembly. Some or all of the lightsmay be dimmable. Some of the lights may remain illuminated while othersmay be toggled on or off depending on the need of the user or dependingon ambient light conditions sensed by one or more optical sensors.

Various features of the disclosure are set forth in the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A walk-behind mower comprising: a mower deck; aplurality of wheels rotatably coupled to the mower deck, the pluralityof wheels configured to move the walk-behind mower over a supportsurface in a forward direction and a rearward direction, the pluralityof wheels including at least one front wheel and at least one rearwheel, the front wheel spaced apart from the rear wheel in the forwarddirection, the front wheel having a front rotational axis and the rearwheel having a rear rotational axis, the front rotational axis extendingparallel with the rear rotational axis; a head coupled to the mowerdeck, the head configured to store at least one battery pack; and aplurality of light sources coupled to at least one of the mower deck andthe head, the plurality of light sources including a front light sourcecloser to the front rotational axis than to the rear rotational axis anda rear light source coupled to the mower deck closer to the rearrotational axis than to the front rotational axis.
 2. The walk-behindmower of claim 1, wherein the front light source is disposed forward ofthe front rotational axis and the rear light source is disposed forwardof the rear rotational axis.
 3. A walk-behind mower comprising: a mowerdeck; a plurality of wheels rotatably coupled to the mower deck, theplurality of wheels configured to move the walk-behind mower over asupport surface in a forward direction and a rearward direction; a headcoupled to the mower deck, the head configured to store at least onebattery pack; and a plurality of light sources, at least one of theplurality of light sources disposed rearward of the head, the pluralityof light sources configured to project light through a continuousillumination angle about the walk-behind mower, the illumination angleextending along an arc from the forward direction toward the rearwarddirection, the illumination angle being at least 90 degrees.
 4. Thewalk-behind mower of claim 3, wherein the plurality of light sourcesincludes a plurality of light-emitting diodes.
 5. The walk-behind mowerof claim 3, wherein the at least one battery pack is a portable powertool battery pack for use with a variety of power tools.
 6. Thewalk-behind mower of claim 3, wherein the at least one of the pluralityof light sources is mounted to the mower deck.
 7. The walk-behind mowerof claim 6, wherein the at least one of the plurality of light sourcesis coupled to a curvature of a sidewall of the mower deck.
 8. Thewalk-behind mower of claim 3, wherein the plurality of wheels includesat least one front wheel and at least one rear wheel, the front wheelspaced apart from the rear wheel in the forward direction, the frontwheel having a front rotational axis and the rear wheel having a rearrotational axis, the front rotational axis extending parallel with therear rotational axis.
 9. The walk-behind mower of claim 8, wherein theplurality of light sources includes a front light source coupled to themower deck closer to the front rotational axis than to the rearrotational axis and a rear light source coupled to the mower deck closerto the rear rotational axis than to the front rotational axis.
 10. Thewalk-behind mower of claim 9, wherein the front light source is disposedforward of the front rotational axis and the rear light source isdisposed forward of the rear rotational axis.
 11. The walk-behind mowerof claim 3, wherein the illumination angle is a right-side illuminationangle, and the plurality of light sources is further configured toilluminate another continuous portion of the support surface through aleft-side illumination angle about the walk-behind mower, the left-sideillumination angle also extending from the forward direction toward therearward direction, the left-side illumination angle being at least 90degrees.
 12. The walk-behind mower of claim 11, wherein each of theright-side illumination angle and the left-side illumination angle is atleast 135 degrees.
 13. The walk-behind mower of claim 12, wherein eachof the right-side illumination angle and the left-side illuminationangle is 180 degrees.
 14. The walk-behind mower of claim 11, wherein theright-side illumination angle is continuous with the left-sideillumination angle.
 15. The walk behind mower of claim 3, wherein atleast one of the plurality of light sources is coupled to the head. 16.A walk-behind mower comprising: a mower deck; a plurality of wheelsrotatably coupled to the mower deck, the plurality of wheels including apair of rear wheels rotatable about a rear axis; a handle disposedrearward relative the rear axis; and a plurality of light sourcesdisposed forward relative the rear axis, the light sources disposed suchthat each respective wheel of the plurality of wheels has acorresponding light source nearer to the respective wheel than to anyother wheel of the plurality of wheels.
 17. The walk-behind mower ofclaim 16, wherein the plurality of wheels includes four wheels and theplurality of light sources includes four discrete light-emitting diodelight sources.
 18. The walk-behind mower of claim 17, wherein eachdiscrete light-emitting diode light source includes more than onelight-emitting diode.
 19. The walk-behind mower of claim 16, whereineach light source of the plurality of light sources includes a separatecorresponding housing.
 20. The walk-behind mower of claim 16, wherein atleast one of the plurality of light sources is incorporated into themower deck.